I Believe I Can, I Knew I Could - Part One

Good Morning, or Good Afternoon, or Good Evening, this post focuses on highlights from a past General Conference in October 2002 and it's called "I Believe I Can, I Knew I Could" by President James E. Faust. This post is part one. This post should take five minutes to read from start to finish. 

President Faust has mentioned the following; 

"President Gordon B. Hinckley has accomplished an insurmountable group of tasks. Yet he was once a young Aaronic Priesthood holder like many of you. You young men of the Aaronic Priesthood are going to be the future leaders of the Church.

… You need to understand that success —both for yourself and the Church —will depend on your determination to accomplish the work of the Lord. Each of you will need to have faith and confidence to move forward.

… the holy priesthood of God. It is the power to act righteously in the name of the Lord to build up the kingdom of God on earth. I remind you “that the rights of the priesthood are inseparably connected with the powers of heaven, and that the powers of heaven cannot be controlled nor handled only upon the principles of righteousness.” Priesthood is divine agency, and the Lord will hold us accountable for our use of this great authority.

At times all of us are called upon to stretch ourselves and do more than we think we can. … We develop our talents first by thinking we can. … We may wonder whether it was fair to take the talent from the one who had the least and to give it to the one who had the most. From the outset, however, the Lord explains that each man had ability.

"I Believe I Can, I Knew I Could"

Some of us are too content with what we may already be doing. We stand back in the “eat, drink, and be merry” mode when opportunities for growth and development abound. We miss opportunities to build up the kingdom of God because we have the passive notion that someone else will take care of it. 

The Lord tells us that He will give more to those who are willing.They will be magnified in their efforts, like the little blue engine as it pulled the train up the mountain. But to those who say, “We have enough, from them shall be taken away even that which they have.”

The Lord entrusts all of His servants, including every priesthood holder, with spiritual talents. The Lord, who endows us with these talents, tells us: “I believe you can. I believe you can.” While we are not all equal in experience, aptitude, and strength, we have different opportunities to employ these spiritual gifts, and we will all be accountable for the use of the gifts and opportunities given to us.

Church history includes incidents of priesthood holders of great capacity. A few were brilliant but also erratic and unreliable and so lost the spiritual gifts and talents with which the Lord had so richly endowed them. Those of us who now hold the priesthood responsibility of this Church must follow and sustain our prophet, President Gordon B. Hinckley. … we need to be on the right track and develop our talents. 

We must remember that the priesthood can only be used for righteous purposes. When used “in any degree of unrighteousness, behold, the heavens withdraw themselves; the Spirit of the Lord is grieved; and when it is withdrawn, Amen to the priesthood or the authority of that man.”

I would like to encourage you to look forward to the next post because it'll be about more highlights from this General Conference talk.  

Stay Tuned. 

How to Prepare for a Mission?

Good Morning or Good Afternoon or Good Evening, this post focuses on how to prepare for a mission and this post should take three minutes to five minutes to read from start to finish. 

Are you preparing for a mission? If you are, this post is for you. 

During my teenage years (between when I was seventeen years old to when I was twenty years old); I was focusing on preparing for a full-time mission despite of me going on some one on one dates and group dates between that time frame. I notice that I did have desires to serve a full-time mission but I didn’t ever have set a goal for myself to accomplish to serve a mission.  

If you’re struggling of preparing for a mission, let me help you with some suggestions of what has helped me to prepare even though I didn’t end up serving a full-time mission and I also didn’t end up serving a part-time mission. 

I’ve gotten my Patriarchal Blessing when I was fourteen years old turning fifteen years old. I definitely encourage you to get a Patriarchal Blessing if you haven't already got one. It's a great source to have a guide in your life. 

I've graduated Seminary. Seminary is a class that runs five days a week when school is on. Seminary consist of waking up early in the mornings between Mondays to Fridays prior to school starts, opening hymns, opening prayer, a lesson (sometimes include scripture masters, always include scripture verses to read), have a discussion to share what has been learned, and then a closing prayer. Seminary goes for four years. 

I did one year of home study for Seminary and I did the three years of Seminary online. I’ve learned so much the stories that's in the scriptures during my years in Seminary, I know that I was getting familiar with some certain scripture verses that would've helped a lot during a mission. Seminary has scripture masteries. Scripture masteries are certain verses from the scriptures to learn to memorize.  

"By helping others come unto Him you will
find that you have come unto Him 
yourself." - Henry B. Eyring."

I’ve graduated Institute. Institute runs differently. Similar to Seminary but Institute consist of no scripture masteries, have different lessons compared to Seminary, instead of waking up in the mornings - Institute is in the evening, instead of running five days a week - Institute runs one day a week, and there's no opening hymns. 

I believe if I remember correctly Institute runs either the same schedule when school is on or during university. I know most of the courses that I've chosen to do during Institute would've helped during a mission. 

I've chosen to do Doctrine and Covenants (I've done that course more than two times), I manage to choose Preparing for an Eternal Marriage course even though I wasn't thinking about getting married anytime soon when I took that class, The Book of Mormon course (I've done that course once), I've done Pearl Great Price course (I've done it once), I've done Jesus Christ and His Everlasting Gospel course (I've done that course once), Foundations of the Restoration course (I've done it once), and I either done Old Testament course or New Testament course (one of those courses, I've done it once).

I’ve attended some mission preparation (mission prep) classes. I’ve made great friendships from that class. I really like the classes. The classes back then consist of opening hymn, opening prayer, role plays, learning how to teach lessons from Preach My Gospel and have discussion about what you have learned. 

I also have gone to lessons that missionaries had with investigators (people who are interested in and learning about the Church). I often share my testimony, share a scripture verse or two, and sometimes I was able to answer the questions that the investigators had. 

I also did home study of scripture reading and getting familiar with reading and memorizing the lessons from Preach My Gospel book. I would strongly recommend to listen to past General Conference talks that has topics that matches with Preach My Gospel book. 

If you have any concerns for your preparation for your mission, you can express them to your Bishop.

If you unsure if the mission is right for you, you can ask for a priesthood blessing and let the Holy Ghost guide you in the decision. You can tell your Bishop that you do have desires to serve a mission. 

Mission does come with its own challenges and I can share what to expect on missions for a different post for another day. 

Stay Tuned.

Happy Australia Day 2026!

Good Morning, or Good Afternoon, or Good Evening, this post is short and sweet. This post should take no longe than three minutes to read from start to finish. 

Despite of me living over here in United States for almost seven years, I still would like to wish friends who lives in Australia "Happy Australia Day!" I'm still proud to be Australian. and I still have my Australian citizenship. I'm hoping to finish applying the application (Australian citizenship by decent) for all of my children to get Australian citizenships sometime before end of this year. 

I do miss living in Australia. I miss celebrating Australia's Day on Australia Day while living in Australia. 

I do miss the familiar sounds of while living in Australia such as I do miss hearing kookaburras laughing. 

I do miss going to the beach anytime of the year. I do miss Australia's Day to be celebrated in Summer season.I do miss consuming foods that's available to purchase at Australian groceries stores.

I do miss consuming drinks that's available to purchase at Australian groceries stores.  

I do miss spending some time with my relatives while I was living in Australia. 

I do miss spending some time with my friends while l was living in Australia. 

I do miss Australian health care system. I mean I really do like the ideas that certain doctors do come and visit patients outside of business hours. 

"Happy Australia Day! Im proud
to be Australian!"

In case that you didn't think that I am aware about the ways over here to get Australian goodies, you are wrong. I'm fully aware there are ways over here that I can get some Australian foods and Australian drinks but it's costly and too expensive. 

It's out of my budget to spend to get those items, sadly. Keep in mind, the pricing would be easily over $100 US dollars ($150 Australian) if I was to place an online order and then get it shipped over here. 

It's best for me to get someone to collect the items or buy the items in Australia and then have that turned into a package and have it shipped over here for much cheaper cost and better value of my money.

How do I celebrate Australia's Day while living over here in United States? 

To be honest each year has been different but for this year and I believe last year, I've been trying to do better to celebrate and find a way to celebrate Australia's Day by cooking and consuming a Australian dinner meal. It makes me happy. I'm hoping for the future years while living over here in United States to continue the tradition of cooking and consuming a Australian dinner meal on Australia's Day. 

Stay Tuned.